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Nothing wrong with either really..that being said...DI(standard)) AR's have been in heavy use for a long time now...they work fine...are usually cheaper, lighter and have less parts (which are common among manufacturers..not so much with the piston platforms)..

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I never bought a complete AR style rifle , always put them together from the parts I wanted. This way I got exactly what I wanted. Like HE always says mission drives the gear. do ur research, think about what you are gonna be using it for. also there is no wrong way to build an AR style rifle cause you can always change every singe part.

I have both DI and piston, so I can tell u this debate .. well that's all it is >> a debate .. I see no practical difference between two systems because nowadays it's very doubtful any us ( unless you a mil, LEO or a contractor ) will push any of our rifles to the point where we can see any real difference. Which ever rifle u buy >>> not gonna be ur last one so my suggestion >> go on the cheaper side, get/build a decent , middle of the road rifle. after you spend some time alone with her, you will know where do you want to take it and what changes fit you.

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i have both. haven't shot the piston yet but It's lighter than my di. I am a bigger fan of the ak platform. If I ever had to pick between an ar or ak, it would be ak. people say the di is a proven design. well the ak is a piston design and that has proven itself 10x more than di. That is why i bought the piston ar. should have the reliability of the ak with the accuracy of the ar.

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I am a bigger fan of the ak platform. If I ever had to pick between an ar or ak, it would be ak. people say the di is a proven design. well the ak is a piston design and that has proven itself 10x more than di. That is why i bought the piston ar. should have the reliability of the ak with the accuracy of the ar.

My thoughts exactly!!

AK's are used all over the world because they are dependable and DO NOT need to be run "wet"

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I agree on the weight comments as I have DI's that are heavier than my pistons, like anything else, it's in what you use it for. My pistons run cleaner, cooler, need less lube and are every bit as accurate. LWRC did a 100k round test and only the spring cap broke (they've since redesigned the spring cap and will ship you one for free).

i have both. haven't shot the piston yet but It's lighter than my di. I am a bigger fan of the ak platform. If I ever had to pick between an ar or ak, it would be ak. people say the di is a proven design. well the ak is a piston design and that has proven itself 10x more than di. That is why i bought the piston ar. should have the reliability of the ak with the accuracy of the ar.

My thoughts exactly!!

AK's are used all over the world because they are dependable and DO NOT need to be run "wet"

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The only time I prefer a piston to DI is on a suppressed machine gun. Then a piston system really shines as blowback is severely reduced. I think DI reliability is often times incorrectly maligned due to other issues. See Filthy 40 for an example of a DI gun running like the Energizer Bunny. Personally, my primary training SBR is now on the third AAC brake due to eroding the first two out (it has that many rounds on it) and it's incredibly reliable as long as I do my part of keeping it lubed.

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i have both. haven't shot the piston yet but It's lighter than my di. I am a bigger fan of the ak platform. If I ever had to pick between an ar or ak, it would be ak. people say the di is a proven design. well the ak is a piston design and that has proven itself 10x more than di. That is why i bought the piston ar. should have the reliability of the ak with the accuracy of the ar.

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ok. here goes. the AK was designed as a piston design. it also has a lot of other characteristics that lend to it's reliability. slapping a piston on an AR does not make it anything like an AK other than having a piston. the tolerances between parts are still AR spec. it would really make it closer to the sig 550/551 in terms of operation but thats nothing like an AK

Please explain how comparing an AK to a piston AR is an apples to apples comparison allowing you to come to the conclusion that a piston AR will be as "reliable as an AK".

How much real world time do you have behind either platform to make that determination?

In my experience the AK platform and the AR series (if both rifles are of similar quality) are equally reliable - or unreliable as the case may be - with piston ARs being significantly less reliable and harder to fix/source parts for than their DI counterparts.

I have never seen a piston AR that was lighter or as well balanced as an equally configured DI gun. A piston gun is heavy on the front end, throwing the balance of the gun off, making it more fatiguing to manipulate and carry, and making driving the gun a little slower and more imprecise.

These are my impressions after quite a few rounds through piston ARs in classes and training iterations (I only have time with carrying DI guns in real world situations myself). These impressions happen to also be shared by a few guys that are tasked with carrying these guns in far away lands whose jobs entail face shooting smelly bearded men.

As MidwestPX stated, piston guns do really shine on suppressed weapons - eliminating a lot of blow back to the shooters face, short barreled rifles - enhancing reliability on barrels under 11.5" in length, and auto guns - the extra weight up front makes them a little more controllable.

But hey, what do we know.....

ok. here goes. the AK was designed as a piston design. it also has a lot of other characteristics that lend to it's reliability. slapping a piston on an AR does not make it anything like an AK other than having a piston. the tolerances between parts are still AR spec. it would really make it closer to the sig 550/551 in terms of operation but thats nothing like an AK

Actually, to quote a buddy of mine:

"The Sig 550 series is the nicest AK aver made". But I agree with the overall message of your post.

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I have shot both and own a lwrc piston, the piston I have is lighter than the DI guns I have shot but the recoil impulse is slightly sharper. The cleaning part is definitely easier with the piston. Shoot both see what you like.

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If you are getting a 12" select fire suppressed weapon get a piston. If you are not, as everyone has stated get a quality Di gun. I own both, Midwest and HE run these things a lot, I would listen to them, the DI is lighter, and better balanced. I would be shocked if any none military/ le or operator would ever use a rifle to the extent the cooler cleaner running pistol would provide.

Again, I own both, get a DI, use the money saved toward ammo and training.

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would you trust a DI gun if the SHTF, you had to run it in dusty, sandy, high moisture, conditions with very little oil on hand? Or maybe you add too much oil and gum everything up, what then? I trust my life to pistons

It really wouldn't matter, the goal is to get the hot air out. A fan would force it out much better then that passive system.
I wouldn't recommend that. Specially if they are thermostat controlled. It could potentially pressurize the attic. Better option to go with the gable fan is to cut in some additional soffit vents, this way cooler air is pulled from bottom and hot is exhausted out the top.